


the alligator

by vvelna



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe, First Meetings, Gen, phil's family is there for like 2 sentences
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-09
Updated: 2018-10-09
Packaged: 2019-07-28 11:10:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16240418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vvelna/pseuds/vvelna
Summary: Dan and Phil meet on a rollercoaster.





	the alligator

**Author's Note:**

> bingo fic for the prompt "florida vacation"

The Florida humidity was stifling. Phil felt a bit amphibious. His t-shirt was starting to cling to him like a second skin, and he knew his fringe was splitting in unflattering ways across his forehead. He trailed after his family—his mum and dad, older brother Martyn, and Martyn’s girlfriend Cornelia—around an amusement park. It wasn’t one of the major parks, like Disney or Universal. It was just a collection of rides huddle up by a group of mini-golf courses. They’d spent the better part of their first full day in Florida conquering Pirate Golf and Gator Golf and Family Swamp Golf. Now they were waiting in line for the park’s main attraction, a rollercoaster called _The Alligator_  (for presumably sacred Floridian reasons).

The line started outside, then wound its way into a building that looked like a big grey barn. Phil was excited to get out of the sun, but soon found that it was even hotter inside. A few fans on the ceiling were valiantly attempting to circulate the air, but the press of bodies in the tight space was too much to combat. Halfway through, the line split in two—one path for paired up riders, the other for singles, who needed to be assigned a ride mate. Phil awkwardly separated himself from his family. Martyn called after him with a joke about speed-dating, and Phil pretended not to hear or know him.

Finally the rollercoaster cars came into view. Phil’s line was directed down the path leading to the very first car. He couldn’t see his family anywhere; he didn’t know if they’d already gotten on the ride ahead of him, or were somewhere behind him. He reached the front and waited while a girl and boy exited the car. They were chatting excitedly like they’d somehow become best friends during their brief high-speed encounter.

The barrier at the edge of the platform swung open, and Phil clumsily stepped forward, half-falling into his seat. He hadn’t looked behind him the entire time he was in line, but now he turned to look at who he’d been paired off with.

It was a guy maybe around his age or a bit younger. He was tall and lanky like Phil, his legs almost too long for the tiny car. He sported a fringe not unlike Phil’s, except it was frizzy and curled. He was looking straight ahead with a bored expression on his face, like he’d just sat down on a bus rather than a rollercoaster.

A ride attendant, sounding just as bored as the guy sitting next to Phil looked, instructed everyone to pull down the safety restraints above them until they clicked into position. Phil reached up for his and pulled it down, but it wouldn’t click. It just sprung back upwards. He continued to fumble with it, anxiety building in his chest. The guy next to him had his restraint perfectly in place, and still wasn’t looking at Phil. He wanted to ask him for help, but he was too embarrassed, and felt like if he opened his mouth to speak, he might start to cry like a small, panicky child.

An attendant suddenly appeared at Phil’s side and pushed down the restraint with one hand, effortlessly locking it into place, before swiftly moving on to the next car. Phil was mortified. He wondered how many people behind him had watched him struggle.

And then they were off, gliding down the track and out of the terribly hot building into the still humid but cooler outdoors. Phil closed his eyes as a breeze played with his hair. His palms were slick with sweat where he was gripping the handholds on the overhead restraints, and he let go and wiped them on his jeans. They whizzed around a few bends and then approached the first slope.

They headed upwards, click-clacking their way slowly to the top of the summit. Phil hated the ascent. The anticipation made him anxious, and the notion that the rollercoaster would somehow slip and start rolling backwards infiltrated his thoughts. He probably should have been more afraid of the plunge, but once the biggest drop was over, everything else would be fun. He’d made sure ahead of time that this coaster didn’t have any loops or particularly topsy-turvy curves—anything that might trigger his motion sickness. As long as he breathed deeply, kept his eyes forward and focused, and didn’t turn his head too much, he’d probably be fine.

Phil had almost forgotten that there was a stranger sitting beside him. He stole a glance and saw that he was looking up at the sky. Phil looked up too but didn't see anything. The higher they climbed, the stronger the breeze, until the heaviness of the humidity was almost negated.

And then, only a meter or so from the peak, they came to an abrupt, neck-jerking stop. Because of the angle and how close they were to the drop, there was barely anything to see ahead but the endless open sky. Phil waited for the ride to start back up, but it didn't. He began to shake just a bit, breathing shallow. He felt like the tightness of the restraints around his chest was making it hard for his lungs to expand. Being still on the rollercoaster was somehow so much worse than being in motion. A flash of heat passed through his body, and his mouth started to fill with saliva. He closed his eyes.

“Hey, are you okay?” said a voice to his left. Phil was surprised to hear a British accent coming from the boy beside him.

“No.” He really didn’t want to open his mouth, but it seemed rude not to respond.

“I’m Dan. What’s your name?”

“Phil.”

“We’re going to be fine, Phil. Stuff like this happens all the time.”

Phil opened his eyes and smiled weakly at Dan, who smiled warmly back at him. Before Phil had a chance to say anything more, a strange clunking noise had Dan looking away from him.

A ride attendant was climbing up the set of metal stairs running along the side of the track. When she reached the top, she turned and addressed the riders.

“Hello, everyone! My name is Pammy! We’re having some trouble with the gator here, and we’re gonna have to get you folks off it for now.”

There were groans and laughter.

“Starting with the last car, my friend Mindy here is gonna release your restraints so you can step out and head down the steps toward Roger.”

Phil looked over his shoulder and saw another attendant standing by the last car. Further down, there was yet another attendant. None of them looked particularly troubled. They’d either been trained to remain calm so as not to cause a panic in a dangerous situation, or Dan was right and they really were going to be fine.

There was just the matter of getting out of the car. The stairs were on Dan’s left. To Phil’s right was nothing, just a straight drop. He looked down and his stomach fell and splattered on the ground, just like he was going to when he tried to stand up in a minute.

“I wouldn’t look down if I were you,” said Dan.

“Too late. Listen, if I die, please tell my family I love them.” His voice sounded remarkably calm to his own ears, considering the droning buzz of fear overtaking his brain.

Dan laughed, and Phil noticed that he had adorable dimples. He kept his eyes focused on Dan’s face and attempted to forget the empty air on his other side.

Mindy arrived and released their restraints. It was like she’d just cut the lines of his parachute and was now about to kick him out of a helicopter.

Dan stepped out of the car and onto the stairs easily. Mindy and Pammy motioned for him to head down toward Roger and the rest of the released passengers, but he stayed put. Phil hoped he wasn’t waiting for him, because he was going to be waiting a long time. Phil couldn’t move. He was pretty sure his legs had stopped working. He just knew that if he stood up, his knees would buckle and he’d fall backwards out of the car.

“It’s alright, hun. Just a few steps to your left and some stairs, and we’ll have you back on solid ground,” said Mindy or Pammy—Phil really wasn’t capable of differentiating between their cheery American voices just then.

“I can’t. Maybe—could you just leave me here and then get the ride started again?” If he could just stay seated and ride it out to the end, he might survive.

“No, sorry sweetheart,” said the other attendant, whoever she was.

They were at an impasse. Phil imagined the next step was probably bringing out some incredibly burly park employee who would physically pull him from the car and carry him potato-sack-style down the stairs, for all the world to see how pathetic he was. Phil closed his eyes and tried to disengage from the entire situation.

He felt a hand on his arm, and another on his knee, and opened his eyes to see Dan kneeling on the floor of the car.

“You know, you don’t have to stand up," he said softly. "If you just sort of slide onto the floor, you can crawl out.”

Pammy/Mindy was saying something chipper, but Phil couldn’t hear her because Dan now had one hand on his left shoulder and was holding Phil’s right hand with the other. Dan guided Phil out of his seat to the narrow foot space in front of it, and before he knew it, he was sitting outside the car and on the steps.

“I still can’t stand up,” he muttered. A strong gust of wind set him shivering.

“Just go down the stairs on your butt,” said Dan, “one at a time.”

If Dan thought Phil was being silly or childish, he wasn’t letting on, but Phil was still embarrassed by the suggestion. Even though all the other passengers were long gone, and the only witnesses to his shame would be Pammy, Mindy, and Dan (and Roger too, he supposed, still waiting somewhere at the bottom).

“I’ll go first,” said Dan, and as Phil watched in bewilderment, he began scooting down the stairs on his butt like it was a perfectly natural thing to do.

“Come on, Phil!” he called, “Don’t let me have all the fun.”

Phil hesitated for a moment, but the waves of impatience rolling off Pammy and Mindy behind him were starting to burn a hole in his back. So he followed Dan down, one step at a time.

A few minutes later, they were both standing outside the grey building, groups of park attendees passing by them. Phil had the dizzy, disoriented feeling of having just gotten off a plane and wandered into a foreign airport.

Phil shifted his weight from foot to foot. Dan rubbed the back of his neck. A painfully awkward silence filled the space between them as the world blurred by around them.

Phil broke it. “Uh, well. Thank you. For your help up there.”

“It’s no problem. I just…yeah. You’re welcome.”

“I should probably find my family”

“Yeah, me too. I’m here with my mum. She hates rollercoasters.”

“Yeah?” said Phil, for no reason.

“Well, bye then. It was nice meeting you, Phil.”

Dan turned and stiffly strode off, and Phil watched him go. And then without thinking, he hurried after him and grabbed his hand. Dan jerked around, eyes wide with alarm, and Phil hastily let go.

“Sorry! I was just wondering if you’d—I mean, do you want to hang out or something for a bit?” 

Dan just stared at him. “You want to hang out? With me?”

Phil blushed. “Yeah, well. You did save my life and all. Made a good impression.”

Dan laughed and his dimples reappeared, along with crinkles along the bridge of his nose and at the corners of his eyes. He pushed his damp, frizzy fringe off his forehead. 

“Okay. Yeah, I’d like that.”

The world surrounding Phil eased back into familiarity, and his head stopped spinning. They set off together, in search of another ride. Something low to the ground.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!
> 
> [ reblog/like on tumblr ](https://velvetnautilus.tumblr.com/private/178872337695/tumblr_pgb6kx5tta1wm9q5f)


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